Telangana: College group holds entrance test for Inter seats in lockdown

HYDERABAD: Violating lockdown rules, Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions is alleged to have held entrance test at various locations on Sunday for admission into Intermediate first-year courses. A probe has now been initiated by the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) authorities.

“I have issued instructions to the district Intermediate education officers of Hyderabad, Medchal and Rangareddy to enquire into the issue, initiate action and submit an action taken report immediately,” Syed Omer Jaleel, secretary and commissioner, Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education , told TOI.

While the institution denied holding the exams , student leaders filmed officials from the institute holding test at one of its many branches in Nizampet.

“The college management did not even take any precautions while conducting the examination. They made students sit in a mess in a private building, the person, who was distributing question papers and OMR sheets, was not even wearing a mask,” National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) state president Venkat Balmoor said, adding that the exam was conducted for hundreds of students in other places.

Apart from Miyapur, students along with their parents came from Sangareddy , Patancheru, Shadnagar among other places.

With a coronavirus positive case detected from the area, Shadnagar is currently on high alert with the Rangareddy district authorities directing all business establishments in the commercial part of the town to shut down.

Two different sets of question papers were used to conduct the exam. While one set had 30 multiple choice questions each from mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English —questions on verbal and logical reasoning, another set consisted of 50 multiple choices from mathematics and 25 each from physics and chemistry. Students were given two hours to complete the exam.

‘Management did not give instructions’

Sri Chaitanya academic director Sushma Boppana, however, claimed the management did not give instructions to conduct any tests and denied holding any tests.

“Health of the students is of utmost importance to us,” Sushma said. “All our branches are closed. Only the offices are open with 20% capacity to do essential work,” she added.

NSUI state secretary D Ajay Kumar, who was the first person to reach the exam centre, said they got wind of the exam from one of the parents.

“They shared the location of a well-known restaurant, which also has a branch in Nizampet. From there, candidates were given instructions over the phone on how to reach the exam centre — a private building. In a mess, there was Sri Chaitanya Hyder Nagar Zone banner and the exam was conducted in this location,” he added.